99 tasty ways to preserve the past

Usually in family history talk of ‘preservation’ involves acid free pens, paper and whatnot. Today, however, we’re thinking of preserving, as in jam. And who better to help us rustle up a taste of the past than the indefatigable Mrs Beeton?

To tie in with Neil Storey’s delicious feature on ‘The country house cook’ in the May issue of Family Tree, we’d like to share with you the jams and preserves section of one of the Family Tree team’s favourite office treasures - our 1906 edition of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.

From the stoical sounding ‘Carrot Jam’ (it seems it wasn’t just the Second World War that brought these muddy roots to the jam jar) to the decadent ‘Peaches Preserved in Brandy’ (a mere 3 pints of brandy required!), we have 99 Mrs Beeton recipes for you to enjoy. Admittedly, while some of them sound extremely tempting, others may not have stood the test of time, but if you do try any of them, we’d love to hear how you get on... please email [email protected].

Oh – you’ve spotted the ‘Apple Chutney’ pickle at the end of our pictures, and would really like to see the rest of the recipe? Okay we’ll treat you to a hundredth recipe:

Mrs Beeton’s Apple Chutney

Ingredients:

2 ¼lbs of thickly sliced apples

1lb of brown sugar

¾lb of sultanas

2oz of salt

½oz of mustard seeds

½oz of ground ginger

¼oz of garlic bruised

⅛oz of cayenne

1 pint of good vinegar

Method:

Simmer the vinegar, sugar and apples gently until reduced to a pulp, stir in the remaining ingredients, and, when well mixed, turn the whole into a basin. Cover, stir 2 or 3 times daily for a week, then bottle, cork securely, and store for use.